Dolphins

They are

Images coming soon.

THIS family contains but one genus with 2 species, found in mid-ocean, where they feed upon other pelagic fishes, such as the flying-fish. They are strong, rapid swimmers, and are widely distributed throughout all tropical and temperate waters. They are often caught by sailors at sea, and are considered excellent food.

It is the custom before eating them to test the flesh by putting a piece of silver into the vessel in which they have been cooked, it being a common belief that if the flesh is poisonous the silver will turn black. Narratives of ocean voyages abound in descriptions of the beautiful colours of the dolphin, and the brilliant changes of hue exhibited by the dying fish. The name dolphin is wrongly applied to these fish, as it belongs properly to a group of small cetaceans.

The single genus, Coryphaena, contains 2 species, C. hippurus and C. equisetis. The common dolphin, C. hippurus, reaches a length of 6 feet. It is a pelagic fish, common on our coast from the Carolinas to Texas, and occasionally north to Cape Cod.

Colour, brilliant in life, the head, body and tail greenish-olive, changing suddenly at death; brownish-olive above, white or golden below, with a series of about 15 bright-blue spots on back along each side of dorsal, the largest on back and head, forming bands on snout; dorsal purplish blue, with paler oblique lines; other fins tinged with blue; caudal yellow.

The small dolphin, C. equisetis, reaches a length of only about 2 1/2 feet. It is found in the open Atlantic. It is rare in the West Indies, and has not been recorded from the coast of the United States.

Colour, sea-green, silvery below, with scattered black spots on the sides and back; a series of distant rounded spots along base of dorsal fin; head with brown stripes.